The present invention relates to systems and methods for delivering supplies to a production line in a manufacturing environment. In particular, the present invention relates to an automated system and method for delivering supplies to a production line in which supplies are transported from a loading dock to a location on a production line using a supply delivery computer that manages the transportation of supplies using conveyor systems and automated guided vehicles.
Current methods of delivering supplies to production or assembly lines in manufacturing or assembly plants are often labor-intensive processes that typically require the manufacturing company to maintain within the plant an inventory of supplies to meet production requirements. First, supplies are unloaded from a trailer at a loading dock to a first area on the manufacturing plant floor that is located close to the loading dock. Next, they are moved to another area of the manufacturing plant floor where they are organized for delivery to the production lines. Associates who are responsible for managing the supplies use paper lists and check sheets to verify manually that the needed supplies have been received from the supplier and have been delivered line side for use in the production line. The associates also rely on sequence lists and check sheets to organize the supplies and indicate where they should be located before they are transported to a production line. Small parts which are transported in bins on a pallet are often stored temporarily in the same area on the manufacturing floor and then manually handled during the process of preparing them for delivery to production lines. Next, depending on the level of automation in the plant, supplies are transported from the manufacturing plant floor to production lines using forklifts or automated guided vehicles.
With current methods, the supplies are often handled by many associates. Delays in delivering supplies to the production line often result due to the number of times the supplies are handled by different associates and the time-consuming process of manually reviewing and updating the sequence lists and check sheets as supplies are delivered line side. Although attempts are made to organize supplies on the manufacturing plant floor based on the order in which they are likely to be used (as may be indicated in a production schedule), the actual order for the production line seldom matches the order indicated in the production schedule. Some supplies may be needed on the production line more quickly than anticipated. Slight variations in the way different sections of the production line run often require significant manual labor to locate a needed part and rearrange the supplies on the manufacturing plant floor to obtain and transport the parts to the production line. Some changes in the production schedule may require several associates to respond and determine what supplies are needed line side and how they can be located and delivered. Misdeliveries may occur when the wrong supplies are delivered line side or if the supplies are sent to the wrong location on the production line. If the associates cannot respond quickly or misdeliveries occur, delays in production may result and cause significant increases in production costs.
Attempts to automate certain steps within the supply delivery process have been made, but none fully automate the process nor do they result in significant reductions in the amount of labor required to deliver supplies line side or in the level of inventory maintained at the manufacturing plant. U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,588 to Kaneko discloses a control apparatus for a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) line in which a production instruction device determines a schedule for supplying jigs on the basis of a work supply order schedule. An automated guided vehicle (AGV) skips unavailable stations and moves to an available station based on the presence or absence of a workpiece and/or a jig. U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,851 to Schonenberger discloses a method of sorting individually conveyed articles into groups in at least one sorting step in a suspension type conveyor. The articles are introduced unsorted into a first conveyor circle and are delivered sorted from the first conveyor circle to a second conveyor circle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,118 to Mueller discloses a system for loading and unloading trailers using automatic guided vehicles. Free-ranging automatic guided vehicles that employ sensors for monitoring pedestrian, operator driven vehicles, and other AGV traffic also ensure that trailers are parked in position for loading and unloading. Signals for controlling traffic and trailer-mounted targets for AGV navigation are also used.
The disclosed systems support only a few steps in the supply delivery process, and they do not support automated delivery of supplies from a loading dock to a production line. Therefore, there is a need for a supply delivery system and method that reduces manual handling of supplies and that reduces the need for maintaining an inventory of supplies at a production facility.
The present invention is a system and method for delivering supplies from a loading dock to a production line using a supply delivery computer system-Autosend-that interfaces with a conveyor computer system that controls transportation of supplies from a conveyor system to pickup stations and a vehicle facility manager computer system that controls automated guided vehicles to transport supplies from pickup stations on the conveyor system to delivery stations on the production line. Using the present invention, no manual handling of supplies is required from the time supplies are unloaded at the manufacturing plant loading dock until they are delivered to the production line. A plurality of delivery stations along the production line are adapted to receive supplies from automated guided vehicles. The supply delivery computer system interfaces with the conveyor computer system and the vehicle facility manager computer system to track the location of supplies and to ensure that the appropriate supplies are delivered to the production line delivery stations. Supplies are labeled with barcodes indicating production line delivery location (i.e., an identifier for a delivery station), load sequence number, load quantity, and lot number to facilitate tracking and routing in accordance with the present invention from the time they are unloaded at the manufacturing plant loading dock until they are delivered to the production line.
Supplies received from various suppliers at a loading dock are first transported from a trailer to loading positions on a random access conveyor system. As supplies are loaded onto the conveyor system loading stations, the conveyor computer system scans the supply barcodes and verifies that they match the supplies that are expected according to a production schedule check list. Supplies accumulate on the conveyor system and are routed to automated guided vehicle pickup stations for delivery to delivery stations on the production line. Because the conveyor system is random access, supplies may be loaded on conveyor lanes in any order and located when needed. When supplies are requested, they are located based on conveyor position within the conveyor system, transported to pickup stations on the conveyor system, and transported by automated guided vehicles from pickup stations to production line delivery stations. Supplies are loaded on the conveyor system based on a production line schedule while current production line requirements determine which supplies are removed from the conveyor system and are delivered to the production line. The supply delivery computer system operates in conjunction with the conveyor computer system and vehicle facility manager computer system to track and report on levels of supply inventory on the conveyor system as well as supplies that are in route to a production line delivery station and supplies that have been delivered to a production line delivery station.
The supply delivery computer system receives requests for deliveries of supplies from delivery stations on the production line. Each delivery station on the production line is equipped with sensors to detect the presence of supplies at the station. Each delivery station may have one or more load positions for accommodating supplies that are delivered by the automated guided vehicles to the delivery stations. When a delivery station determines that a load position is empty, a request for delivery of supplies is initiated. As requests for deliveries of supplies are initiated and processed by the supply delivery computer system in conjunction with the vehicle facility manager computer, automated guided vehicles are dispatched by the vehicle facility manager to the pickup stations at the conveyor system to receive loads of supplies and deliver them to the delivery station locations on the production line where the requests were initiated. The supply barcodes are used to track the dispatching, routing, and delivery of supplies from the pickup stations at the conveyor system to the delivery stations on the production line.
The supply delivery computer system comprises a request manager and related screens for monitoring requests for supplies that are initiated at the production line delivery locations and that are fulfilled by the conveyor system computer and vehicle facility manager computer. The request manager screens provide status information regarding all production line requests. The supply delivery computer system also comprises functions for initializing delivery station locations on the production line, inventory recovery, current lot maintenance, delivery progress maintenance, load data maintenance, and stop indicators.